About the facility

Established in 2013 by Professors Leong Ng and Donald Jones through a generous £2.5 million donation from the John and Lucille van Geest Foundation, the facility, originally named The John and Lucille van Geest Biomarker Facility, was created to accelerate the discovery and development of cardiovascular biomarkers.

This investment enabled the creation of a state-of-the-art proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics laboratory dedicated to using biomarkers to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic monitoring of cardiovascular disease. As one of only a small number of UK laboratories focused exclusively on cardiovascular biomarker research, it occupies a distinctive national role in this field.

The need for better biomarkers is particularly acute in conditions such as heart failure and coronary artery disease, where diagnosis can be challenging in everyday clinical practice. The laboratory is also pioneering novel biomarkers to predict outcomes in heart failure and myocardial infarction, helping to identify patients at higher risk so they can be prioritised for earlier and more intensive treatment.

The Current Facility is jointly managed by Profs Jones, Ng and Suzuki and Dr Pankaj.